Sacrifices Must Be Made For the Greater Good
by The Dancing Daleks
Summary: We were all spell bound by JKR's series. But what happens when it isn't all happily Ever After? In this Alternate Ending, things change. You thought you knew who died... R&R please! JUST FINISHED!
1. Leaving is the Hardest Thing to Do

**I know many of us diehard Harry Potter fans all had our own ideas of how the series should end. I must confess that I was one of them. By the time Deathly Hallows had come out, I had a full blown plot idea of how it was supposed to end, it should end this way, it's going to end this way and goddammit if it doesn't end this way. My hopes, however were shattered, when the final battle took place at not the Department of Mysteries, but at Hogwarts! **

**So, like the fan I was, I went back to the various comic strips I created about this ending (this was before I actually thought of writing the ending because I'd probably end up writing the entire book and however much free time I may have, I don't have that much). After reading DH, I saw how I could connect my fan fantasies to the real deal. So, in a stroke of perhaps insanity, I did it.**

**When I began writing this, I tried to find a way to get it into the Department of Mysteries, because that was where my original fantasy happened and dammit if this happened at all it would happen there! However, the further I looked, there was no conceivable way to get both Harry and Voldemort to the Department of Mysteries. Short of inventing a Horcrux of course… So I had to stay at Hogwarts, which turned out to work.**

**So now here I am, sitting at my computer, stunned and surprised that what I had initially intended to be a paragraph intro to this fanfic turned into a 3 paragraph rant. Sorry to all of you who had to sit through that.**

**My story picks up right after Harry tells Neville about Nagini. It goes from there to my own epilogue (don't even get me started on the one JKR gave us). Happy reading!**

As Harry left Neville, a new sense of hope filled him. If Neville could maybe, just maybe, kill Nagini, then Ron and Hermione would have at least a small chance to defeat Vold…

"Harry," it was a voice Harry had grown to know all too well. She was out of breath. Harry realized he'd been running away from the wreckage. Knowing he would regret it, he turned to face Ginny. Hey red hair was covered in a fine powder of who knows what. Her eyes look towards him beseechingly, almost confused. As she neared him, while catching her breath, she tucks her hair behind her ear in the most seductive way possible… Harry couldn't help but be mesmerized by her beauty. She opened her mouth to speak, but before the siren's song can disarm him completely, Harry cries out quickly,

"Ginny, get out of here! It's not safe!" He steeled himself for the argument he knows is coming. Ginny always could be persuasive. Mentally, he noted not to look into her eyes. But it was unnecessary. No mental notes could have prepared him for what Ginny did.

She kissed him full on the mouth, by far the most passionate of their kisses. Harry cannot help but melt into it, wishing it would never end. But like all good things, it did. She broke it off, and almost immediately after, he felt a stinging sensation across his left cheek. Ginny had slapped him.

"Don't you think I know that!" she says roughly, gazing at him with the same fire and intensity Harry had seen after Dumbledore's funeral. The last time he had tried to leave her, he realizes. "My brother is dead! Don't tell me about danger, I know," it looked as if she might be finished, but then with the cry of someone in physical pain, she says, "Why are you doing this to me?" Harry can see tears rimming her eyes. He stares at her dumbfounded.

"I'm not doing anything to you!" he exclaimed, making sure he wasn't standing on her foot or anything.

"Yes you are!" she growls fiercely. Kissing him again, she said, "You tell me to stay out of danger. I can do that! But then why do you leave me and run headlong into it? How can you expect me not to follow?" Harry turned to walk away, to leave her for the last time, but Ginny races in front of him, blocking his path. Whispering in his ear, she says,

"Even the famous Harry Potter needs help sometimes," He shrugs her off before she can kiss him again, and inside his heart starts to tear in half. Continuing his original direction, he attempts to ignore the words Ginny furiously hurls at him.

"No one can make it on their own! You should know that!" Harry can hear the slap of her sneakers on the ground as she follows him. He can hear the hurt in her voice as she yells, "I love you Harry Potter, but sometimes you make me crazy!" Harry freezes, listening to every word. The footsteps slow to a walk. "You can't save everyone Harry," She's caught up to him, "Something's gotta give," Her warm, soft hands are on his shoulders, "And I'd really rather it wasn't you,"

Her gaze is hypnotic, her touch like a life preserver. With her holding him, he can never be lost. She leans toward him, tilting her head ever so slightly. The movement is enough to wake Harry up. Realizing what he has to do, he whipped his wand out before Ginny could even react. The spell is on the tip of his tongue, then he sees her eyes. And for a second, his resolve wavers. But her eyes bleed into Severus Snape's dying eyes, the memories he'd given Harry, Dumbledore's mission for Harry. And he whispers, pointing the wand at Ginny, "Petrificus Totalus,"

She drops like a log, her arms at her sides, legs clamped together. The only thing not bound by the jinx is her long flowing red hair. Her eyes, oh god why did they have to move, Harry thought, spun toward him, conveying the hurt and fear she couldn't speak aloud. Giving her one last longing glance, Harry dashes out of the Great Hall into the night.


	2. Teenage Misery

All through his solemn trudge to the Forbidden Forest, Harry thinks of death

All through his solemn trudge to the Forbidden Forest, Harry thinks of death. Not just his own death, but of everyone he's ever known. He thinks of Cedric, who had been young and unsuspecting. Harry even goes so far as to wonder what his last thoughts were; he thinks of Fred, who hadn't even seen it coming, of the laugh that he would forever display on his face; of Sirius, who'd rushed into danger to save Harry and his friends; of his parents, who'd given their lives without a second thought to protect Harry; of Dobby, who'd given his life to save people he had no duty to.

The familiarity of it all stings him. Ginny had accused him of rushing headlong into danger. Just like all of them had to save him. They had lost their lives, too. The only difference was that Harry was giving his life up.

The cool green grass crunched beneath his shoes. The forest, only a few yards away, called to him, invited him in. Hagrid's hut was deserted, not even Fang was there to greet him. He committed it all to memory, knowing that it could be one of the last familiar things he saw before Voldemort exacted his cruel revenge. He went through his memories, trying to feel them all again. He walked through the Dursley's house, through the Burrow. He descended into the Chamber of Secrets again. He fell into Ron's joy at winning the Quidditch Cup, his astonishment when he and Ginny kissed. Harry could smell her hair. It was so sweet.

And like that he was out. It was too painful to relive anything about Ginny, because it would all eventually lead up to what he had just done. Someone would find her and put her right. Harry was sure of that.

Instead, and partially because the subject confused him so much and would therefore keep his head busy, Harry thought of Dumbledore. He'd been wise and caring, almost fatherlike to Harry. But he'd lied about so much. Grindlewald swam into his head, accompanied by Ariana, Aberforth and his future. Why was it when Dumbledore had sat him down two years ago, he couldn't just flat out say it all? Why this huge quest? Now he was so confused he couldn't even sort out the truth from the lies.

And then there was Snape, suddenly on the side of good! Where did that play into this? Snape loved his mother. So what? He got her killed! Why should Harry even believe those memories?

Unbidden, Slughorn rose from the depths of Harry's memories. He had faked a memory. Sure, it hadn't been done very well, but Harry was sure he hadn't tried very hard. Snape, Harry was sure, was exponentially more powerful than Slughorn, he could fake those memories, Harry was sure. Maybe, Snape wanted his revenge on Harry's father, who'd tricked him while they were in school. Maybe, Snape had tricked Dumbledore after all and his real goal was to kill Harry, or deliver him to Voldemort, whichever happened first.

What proof was there that even suggested that Harry should believe the man who had hated him since he'd come to this school? Rage filled Harry. And furthermore, while he was on this rant, why should he have to give his life? Why couldn't it be someone else, someone who had literally nothing to lose? Why did it have to be him? He had Ron and Hermione, he had the Weasley's, he had Ginny…

Ginny.

At that moment, all he wanted to do was dash back to the Great Hall, to unjinx Ginny, to hold her close and never let go. He wanted to smell her hair, to get his hands caught in it. He wanted to kiss her until the sun went out. He wanted to get lost in the maze that were her eyes. He wanted to run away, to take her with him. Anyone could take his place, Harry reasoned. It was easy enough. Neville could do it. As long as he and Ginny could be together.

Screw the prophecy! Screw Voldemort! He could kill the entire world! He could rip it to shreds! Just so that he and Ginny were together. Hermione and her brains, they'd never failed her. She could figure it out. Ron could do it, he was brave enough. Neville could do it, he was almost in Harry's shoes.

He had never wanted this! No one could want this! Anyone could have it! as long as he could give it up, he didn't care who took the immense mantle from his shoulders. He didn't give a damn about the wizarding world! They could all fly their brooms to Hell for all he cared! Dumbledore could never give him the answers he wanted, needed.

If he was with Ginny, he would have everything he'd ever need.

She calmed him down, just the thought of her. Rough, evil thoughts were impossible when entwined with her. Slowly, ever so slowly, the angsty teen inside of Harry passed, leaving behind an empty core. It doesn't leave. Harry didn't expect it to. But it is covered by the resolve he had felt before his rant. The anger was gone.

He realized that, in his anger, he'd stopped walking towards the forest. Harry turns to face the bottomless pit of darkness that was the forest.


	3. No Mercy

Chapter 3 is the scene where Harry uses the Resurrection Stone to call up his parents and Sirius (yah know, that whole touchy feely moment where Harry asks them if it hurts

_Chapter 3 is the scene where Harry uses the Resurrection Stone to call up his parents and Sirius (yah know, that whole touchy feely moment where Harry asks them if it hurts. Now you remember?). I really really really liked the way JK Rowling did this scene and I think it helps Harry come to terms with his impending death. Seeing as I didn't write this, I'm not going to copy it (plagiarism in case anyone cares). I'm trusting that anyone who wants to find this scene and stick it in here can go get their copy of Deathly Hallows and read it. I'm not giving the page numbers because a) I can't find my copy b)I don't know the British Edition and c) Even if I could find my copy, I'm too lazy to give you the page numbers so you'll all have to find it yourself!_

_Okay so Chapter 4 starts after Harry passes through the Dementors and his family melts into him. When Chapter 4 starts, Harry has come to the edges of a clearing to see…_

Hiding behind a tree, Harry had a clear view into the clearing. The gathering of Death Eaters was much like the one at the graveyard, with a circle of imposing black robed wizards, gaps in the circle for missing members. In the center stood Voldemort, his black robes flowing, Nagini draped around his shoulders like a boa. Harry almost smiled at the irony. Voldemort's back was to Harry, looking at something he couldn't see. Bellatrix was just visible from over Voldemort's shoulder. Her face looked longing, like she could barely hold herself back.

"I don't think he's coming," a harsh voice Harry didn't recognize broke the silence. He was silenced with a green jet of light. No one else dared to question Harry's punctuality.

"Potter will come. His friends mean more to him than anything. His safety has little value to him if his friends are endangered," Voldemort swiveled in one graceful movement to face the Death Eaters in front of Harry. "He is a fool when confronted with the safety of a loved one," He says the words like a foul curse word. Actually, Harry thinks, he would probably say that fondly.

"My Lord," Lucius Malfoy says shakily. Harry realizes it was him Voldemort was addressing. "You have our every loyalty! We have served you unshakingly!" Voldemort cuts him off with a shriek,

"Except for your hearts! They apparently belong to Draco!" The two Malfoy's cringe at the sound of their son's name. All the other Death Eaters snickered and cringe. They realize what awaits the Malfoy's. As Voldemort strides closer, Harry backs farther into the trees.

"My Lord," Narcissa begins beseechingly. She, too, must recognize their fate. Voldemort cuts off her.

"Are you serving a new master?" His voice is deathly quiet, much more frightening than the screams. Narcissa is trembling so hard she could be a tuning fork. She looks as if she could collapse any moment.

"We owe you our utmost loyalties! Our lives!" Lucius cried out hurriedly as Narcissa shrilled, "Of course not!"

Voldemort strode back to the center of his circle of followers, then withdrew his wand. This did nothing for Narcissa's nerves. He caressed the Elder Wand like a newborn babe. He began to pace the center of the circle.

"With my old wand," he began softly, "I killed a great many people. Enemies, those that stood in my path, anyone. That wand performed my every desire. It destroyed anyone I told it to. But Potter," he pauses, "I couldn't destroy. With its failure I would have disposed of it immediately, if I had not needed a wand every moment of the day. So I decided I could make due until a suitable replacement was found," Voldemort spoke of his phoenix feather wand with distaste, dismissively, almost glad to be rid of it. Harry's insides boiled. "And find a replacement I did! I found," he paused for dramatic effect, "The Elder Wand. I took it from the great Albus Dumbledore's grave," he says it in such a mocking tone that Harry wanted to come out and kill him then and there. All the Death Eaters jeer and mock Dumbledore, just as Voldemort wants them to. "This wand has done everything for me I could possibly ask of it. This," He holds up the Elder Wand, "is an extraordinary wand!" He is almost bellowing, "And I, am an extraordinary wizard! A new reign of terror stars with you!"

He levels his wand at Lucius, who selfishly drags Narcissa in front of him. She shrieks and huge sobs rack her body. Voldemort moved his lips to begin the curse, but Harry jumped out from behind his tree and cried,

"Stop!"

Heads turned from every direction. Cloaks swished as wands were drawn. Harry knew that the only wand he was in any danger from was pointed right at him. The Malfoy's sank to the ground in relief. Voldemort grinned. It's an ugly sight.

"So, the great Harry Potter arrives. I was wondering if we would ever be graced by your presence," His voice is laced with a thick coat of sarcasm. Harry decided to reply in kind. He musters his courage and hisses back,

" Well I hope I didn't keep you waiting," The crowd of Death Eaters hissed at him.

"You have the gall to mock me boy?" he responded, emphasizing the last word. "I will enjoy this very much," Voldemort grinned as Harry let his arms hang uselessly. He faced the upheld wand aimed straight at his heart.

Being able to see behind Voldemort offered Harry a smidge more reaction time when the Sword of Gryffindor slashed into Nagini from behind, separating her head from her body. Uttering a howl of pure anguish, Voldemort whirled around to snatch Ginny's outstretched hand. Shocked, she dropped the sword and struggled to get away from Voldemort's grip.

"You insolent little girl!" Voldemort howled at her. She tried to break free from the death grip Voldemort had on her, but anger is fueling him. He raised his wand, pointed it at Ginny and could barely shriek through his anger the furious words,

"Avada Kedavra!"

Voldemort released her wrist as the life drained from her fiery eyes. At the same time, Harry let loose his own cry,

"NOO!!"


	4. Rise Above Your Enemies

Voldemort stood over Ginny's lifeless body, cackling like the madman that he was. Stumbling over himself, Harry clutched his well used phoenix feather wand and screamed, with all the emotions he'd ever felt behind it, all his love for Ginny, hatred towards Voldemort and anything else possible, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

He had no idea himself what he was about to say until the words are out. The silvery stag erupts from his wand, chasing down Voldemort. The look of triumphant fury soon turned to terror. Voldemort attempts to outrun the beautiful creature but is caught. As the stag passes through him, Voldemort drops to the ground like a stone. Dead.

Seeing their leader fall, all the Death Eaters scatter except Bellatrix, who runs up to the stag, wand firing off Killing Curses until she too fell to the ground next to her master. No one had any chances of outrunning the stag. It took a few minutes, but soon the stag came back to Harry and rounded on the Malfoy's, huddled on the ground. Harry held up his hand to the Patronus, and walked forward to them.

"Please," Narcissa pleads. Her eyes are filled with tears.

"I'm not going to kill you," They relax immediately, "No child should have his parents taken away like this. But that doesn't mean I don't really really want to kill you," This is enough for Lucius. He gets up and runs, Narcissa close behind him. They are out of sight before Harry can summon the Patronus back to him.

He turned back to Ginny.


	5. Grief is Unimaginable

Her red hair is sprayed out around her head like points from the center of a circle. Her eyes are wide with a sort of dumb fear. The fire and passion that made the expression come to life are gone. All the fire, any emotion, is gone from her eyes. Her spirit, the fierceness that Harry loved about her, gone. She is a shell of the woman he loved. This is not Ginny. It was Ginny.

Sobbing hysterically, Harry pulls her limp body up to his, holding her tight in one last hug. He never wants to let go of her, just to hold her like this forever. He would lay there for eternity if it meant being with her. Never, ever, ever would he put down her body.

Harry smells her hair. It's not the same. The smell lingers, but it doesn't have the same body. He doesn't feel the impulse to hold her in the middle of a totally normal conversation. He can't let her go, but it doesn't feel the same to be holding her. Voldemort has taken the feeling from him. From her.

Death has taken it.


	6. Leaving Again

It seemed like an eternity, laying there, draped crudely across Ginny's body. But, like everything, it came to an end. Harry was forced to look at her, lying helpless on the ground. Dead…

Harry shook his head. He wouldn't think of that.

As he tried to stand, the ground below him blurred. Ginny blurred too, and he realized the tears in his eyes had collected. Brushing them away with the back of his hand, he looked back towards Ginny. He swept her up in his arms, something he'd always wanted to do under different circumstances. Her arms and legs hung limp and swayed. Harry picked his way through the forest, his mind completely clear.

The fighting appeared to have stopped. At least there weren't any giants flinging boulders through the walls or something. Never once did his arms ache as he stepped purposefully on the crisp grass. Only his legs did, because they were caring him to a fate he had never envisioned for himself before.

The great arched doors of the Great Hall loomed ominously over Harry. He had no idea what sight would greet him inside. The last time he'd passed through those doors, Ginny had been alive. Before Harry even saw them, Ron and Hermione had rushed up to him. The wreckage had slowed them a bit, but not much.

"Harry! What happened?" Hermione's shrill voice spoke. Ron started to say something. Then he saw his dead sister.

"Oh my god…" Ron gasped. He froze, wishing he could look away, but unable to. "What happened? What the hell happened?" He managed to choke out. Harry placed Ginny on the ground gently, brushing the twigs and leaves from her hair. Ron grabbed Harry's shoulders impatiently, shaking him. Hermione reached out to stop him, but Ron slapped her hand away. Harry felt no emotion, not even pain in his heart. Ron, however, didn't have that control.

"Harry, tell me what happened to my sister! What the hell happened?" The tears were flowing freely now. They choked him, keeping him from speaking. Instead, he shook Harry. The sobs racked his body, his broad shoulders heaved with each one, and he was forced to the ground. He knelt next to Ginny, as Harry had done before.

Harry turned to go, but Hermione stopped him. She isn't showing any intense emotion yet, but tears were starting to form in the corner of her eyes. All through this ordeal, she hasn't said anything. "Harry, what the hell happened?" she asked softly. Placing her hand on his shoulder, she tried to comfort him. It felt too much like Ginny. Shrugging her off, he replies coolly, "She got in the way,"

Harry left his two best friends in the doorway of the Great Hall. As he stalked off, he twisted the Gaunt ring on his thumb, certain he will never see his friends again.

Hermione watched, her insides twisting in agony at the cruel and feeling less words Harry had just uttered, wondering what had happened in that forest. Maybe Fudge had been right. Maybe Harry was a loose cannon. But none of it matters. She watched Harry reach the edge of the grounds, certain he will never return.


	7. Epilogue

Harry leaned against one of the numerous non magical barriers in King's Cross station. He looked around calmly, searching for someone. The familiar barrier he had run through so many times stared back at him across the walk way. Various people, all wizards, leaned against it and disappeared in full view of Harry. Under the invisibility cloak he watched them silently. But if anyone saw him there, waiting…

And then they came. A hoard of red headed children swarmed around a tall woman with unmistakable brown bushy hair. The tall red haired man beside her put his arm around her waist, and the other hand clutched by a small red headed boy about 5. The bushy haired woman held the hand of another boy, almost identical to the first. He is helping his mother push the trolley laden with shiny new trunks.

"Mum, where's the platform? I don't see it!" A girl walking alongside the first boy cries. It is obviously her first year at Hogwarts. Her red bushy hair is pulled back in a ponytail and her eyes are frightened.

"Hush, Ginny. It's right behind this wall. Remember the room we have at home to hide all your spell books and things when Granddad Granger comes to visit from Australia? It's just like this. The door is there but you can't see it," Hermione explains to the confused girl. She acted more patient than she had when Ron or Harry would ask the same question at school.

"You mean it's not a wall?" Another young boy, probably about 8, was thrilled by this. He ran and shoved his head through the platform. Harry almost laughed out loud at the comical sight. He looked a lot like Nearly Headless Nick.

"Fred! Get out of there!" Ron quickly rushed over and helped Fred to pull his head out of the platform wall. He sat there grinning like a maniac as his father scolded him. Harry could hear words like, 'Muggles' and 'wizards' and 'exposure' being tossed around.

Ron looked almost the same from the back, except that he'd grown three inches since he was 17. His face looked more serious since Harry had last seen it. The smile he almost always wore was replaced by an almost frown. Ever since Ginny and Fred had been killed, Ron had become more protective. No doubt his children were getting the brunt of it.

And he'd turned anti-Harry. He'd gone back and reread the articles surrounding Cedric's death, and concluded they were the same. No witnesses, just Harry, a body and his word that Voldemort did it. He'd bought it when it was Cedric and no comments were given. But Ron was convinced by the way Harry ran away. He had killed Ginny, and nothing could change his mind.

Of course the discovery of Voldemort's dead body surrounded by his followers did nothing to change his mind.

And not only had Ginny and Fred's deaths hit Ron hard, but Hermione was hurt worse. She knew Harry was innocent and maintained it even after Ron was convinced. She continued to write him letters, even though Ron told her not to. She was his only correspondent. She told him about her five children, about her mother being mauled to death by a tiger in an Australian zoo and Ron's conversion.

Now, as the mostly happy family stood staring blankly at the platform, Harry couldn't help staring at Ginny. When he'd received news from Ginny that her first child was a girl, Harry had panicked. Would he come out of hiding to see her? Would he sacrifice his solitude for a girl he didn't even know?

Apparently he would.

Even her name brought tears to Harry's eyes; Ginny Lily Weasley. She looked a lot like the Ginny Harry had known, but she had green eyes and bushy red hair.

"Ginny," Harry whispered, twisting the ring on his finger, just like he did every night, hoping, waiting. He knew she wouldn't come. She hadn't in the past 19 years.

"Harry," a voice whispered softly. He turned, surprised and slightly justified.

There she was, 16 years old again and beautiful as ever. Her long straight hair egged Harry on the touch it, but he knew he couldn't. But it was worth a try.

Not expecting any results, he reaches out and tries to touch her hand. Inside him, he felt a strange bubbling sensation in his gut, something he's never felt before. He couldn't feel Ginny's hand, but his fingertips were colder than the rest of his body. He watched his skin become transparent before his very eyes. And then he could feel her.

Harry was 17 again, as pearly white as Ginny. The invisibility cloak had fallen through his body, landing soundlessly on the stone ground. No one calls his name, or even looks at him.

He is invisible.

He took both of Ginny's hands in his, conveying with his eyes all he could not say with his mouth. She too, forgives him for jinxing her, for leaving her. Her eyes are soft and loving. There is no trace of hate or regret. Harry could feel the Resurrection Stone slip from his finger to the ground. It made no sound as it fell on top of the Invisibility Cloak.

Ginny took one of her hands from Harry, and pointed towards a wall. A door had appeared where there wasn't one before. Above it was an inscription saying,

_The Master of Death chooses his own._

Harry, glanced towards Ginny, and she nodded towards it, as if to say, "Come home with me,"

Well how could he resist that?

Together, they turned and walked into the door, never to be seen again.

Back on the platform, Ron turned back to glance at the wall where Harry had been leaning moments earlier. He saw the cloak lying on the ground, and the ring on top of it. He searched frantically for Harry so he could repay his sisters murder, but was stopped. He smelled something. Something he hadn't smelled for 19 years.

Ginny's perfume.

And that told Ron that he'd been wrong. For 19 years he'd hated the guts of the man he'd once called his best friend. He grabbed the cloak and the ring. Harry is still no where. All Ron has left to remind him of his best friend are a cloak, a ring and the legends of the man with the lightening bolt scar.


End file.
